Multiple 100mb pipes on 100mb switches

I know, the subject is confusing so here's my situation:

I have fiber coming into a Cisco 5500, then routed via a Linux router
(iptables) and back into another blade on the 5500 where it then feeds
out to many 2900 switches. We currently have just 100mb service
feeding in through that fiber but will soon have a second 100mb of
service from the same provider, giving us a 200mb pipe to them.

Here's my problem - How can I balance it all when the blades in my
5500 are only 100mb ports? I can't feed 200mb out of the 5500 into my
linux box since the cards are all 100mb. My inital thoughts were to
load balance 2 ports coming out of the 5500 shoot 2 lines back to the
network. Then the reality of how much that would resemble bubble game
and duct tape sets in.

Does anyone have any suggestions, short of either:

1 - purchasing a blade for the 5500 with gigabit, along with 2 gigabit
cards for the router
2 - setting up 2 routers, each handling 100mb of traffic and forcing
certain machines on the network to feed through a specific one

Option 1 can get a bit pricey, and option 2 gives me no load balancing
(would hate to see one router near capacity while the other sits
nearly unused). Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 23:02:40 +0000, Dave wrote:

> I know, the subject is confusing so here's my situation:
>
> I have fiber coming into a Cisco 5500, then routed via a Linux router
> (iptables) and back into another blade on the 5500 where it then feeds
> out to many 2900 switches. We currently have just 100mb service
> feeding in through that fiber but will soon have a second 100mb of
> service from the same provider, giving us a 200mb pipe to them.
>
> Here's my problem - How can I balance it all when the blades in my
> 5500 are only 100mb ports? I can't feed 200mb out of the 5500 into my
> linux box since the cards are all 100mb. My inital thoughts were to
> load balance 2 ports coming out of the 5500 shoot 2 lines back to the
> network. Then the reality of how much that would resemble bubble game
> and duct tape sets in.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions, short of either:
>
> 1 - purchasing a blade for the 5500 with gigabit, along with 2 gigabit
> cards for the router
> 2 - setting up 2 routers, each handling 100mb of traffic and forcing
> certain machines on the network to feed through a specific one
>
> Option 1 can get a bit pricey, and option 2 gives me no load balancing
> (would hate to see one router near capacity while the other sits
> nearly unused). Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

You could try a round robin load balancer in front of the two routers.
This way you have higher availability and you balance the load.

Kind regards,

Anton